Studies on granuloma inguinale. 8. Serological reactivity of sera from patients with carcinoma of penis when tested with Donovania antigens.

An association between granuloma inguinale and genital carcinomas has long been suspected (McKay and Bunch, 1952; Alexander and Shields, 1953; Saltzstein, Woodruff, and Novak, 1956) for the following reasons: (1) The higher incidence of genital carcinomas in areas where granuloma inguinale is endemic, as compared to areas in which granuloma inguinale is not found to any appreciable extent. (2) The occasional occurrence of carcinoma within depigmented areas of healed granuloma inguinale lesions. (3) The concurrence of carcinoma and granuloma inguinale in the same lesion. While this view has not been accepted by investigators in all parts of the world (Rajam and Rangiah, 1954), it is firmly held by the majority of clinicians in Jamaica (Stewart, 1959; Annamunthodo, 1959, 1961).